Homing in

The Urban Land Ceiling amp; Regulation Act 1976 is a piece of legislation whose time has gone. The anachronistic Act has increasingly been found to be unresponsive to the country8217;s needs for urban housing besides having helped to introduce a pernicious virus of corruption into the system. In fact, the United Front government had last November taken a decision to repeal the Act. Therefore, Ram Jethmalani 8212; the present Union minister for urban affairs and employment 8212; is only doing what is expected of him by hurrying through with a Bill repealing the old Act. The Bill is to be introduced in the coming session of Parliament.

The Bill serves the dual purpose of attempting to kickstart the sluggish housing industry and to make it relatively easier for ordinary urban dwellers to realise their dreams of owning houses of their own. It is precisely with these objectives in mind that the urban affairs ministry has also suggested a package of radical fiscal incentives for house builders and owners in the next budget.They range from providing a five-year tax holiday for those investing in housing to making the entire cost of constructing one8217;s home tax-deductible. Other proposals include providing for steep reductions in the stamp duty on house sales and allowing people to claim depreciation on homes over 20 years of age. The ministry is also open to foreign capital being invited to invest in the housing sector. There are two important principles that underline these suggested measures. One, that housing must be recognised as an industry like any other. Two, that creating more homes for people is a socially valuable activity and must be considered so. The same sentiments drove the minister to approve, in a related move, the amending of Delhi8217;s house-building rules to allow an extra storey to be built 8212; even as he recognised that it would mean an additional strain on the existing civic infrastructure.

But amidst all this enthusiasm to build more homes, the minister must also not forget that there are many seriousenvironmental implications in all of this. Housing has therefore to be constantly viewed in the context of rational urban development. Most Indian cities, even if they started of as planned urban centres, have grown in an extremely haphazard fashion. This has, in turn, impacted on its citizens, with large-scale epidemics and chaotic traffic conditions taking its toll on their health and well-being. Delhi offers an excellent example of how not to develop a city. Today, it ranks as the fourth most polluted metropolis in the world, thanks to its over-dependence on privatised transportation because of the lack of a viable mass transit system. Yet, the minister has suggested that the colonial bungalows in Lutyens8217; Delhi make way for multi-storeyed residential complexes. Besides spelling the end of what is universally regarded as a heritage site, it would destroy an area that has long served the city as a valuable green lung. Build more homes, by all means, but don8217;t knock cities in the process.